Out At A Bar Somewhere
by Heather F.C
Summary: “Maybe we met before.” he said sitting on the examination table, trying to flirt with the doctor. “You know, drunk, out at a bar somewhere.”


"You would not remember me."

When she first agreed to go out with her friends for the Saturday night, she knew how her night would end. She would either get bored of being alone because her friends would just leave her for some cute, drunk, college boys or she would wake up the next day in some stranger's bed, not remembering the events of the previous night. She just hoped that the first would come true. The last thing she needed was to have a hangover a week before her finals. College life was already exhausting for her. As a second year student, studying medicine in Northwestern, she was having hard time to cope up with her studies and was actually planning on spending the weekend studying. However, just like everything else in her life, her plans did not come true and she was now walking down the streets of Chicago with her roommate and her roommate's best friend, looking for a bar to spend the night away.

The bar they finally entered smelt of a heavy combination of alcohol and cigarettes and the pool tables were filled with college boys. It was just the way her friends liked it. The two of them made their ways to the counter, ordering two beers for them, immediately leaving Sara behind. "As usual" she thought to herself and sat down at a barstool at the corner of the counter, under the dim lights. She did not feel like drinking but then just decided to order one cranberry vodka to herself when she saw her roommate sitting at a table with rich-looking boys. She was glad that her expectations were fulfilled, that she would leave the bar in an hour since she would be bored by sitting alone and have at least some time alone to start studying.

She thanked to the middle-aged looking bartender as he placed the drink before her. She started at the glass for a while before deciding to drink it. She finally gave in and raised the glass to her lips. She looked over to her friends who were apparently amusing themselves by laughing with the guys who were ordering drinks to them. For a second or two, she stopped caring for them and drank. As the alcohol made its small descent into her veins, she felt herself lonelier than ever.

She had agreed to go out with her friends because she thought that she would at least have some fun and company, but here she was sitting alone at the corner of the counter in a bar on a Saturday night, drinking and letting her sorrows sink in. For some unknown reason, she thought about her mother who had died a few years ago because of alcohol. She wondered how it felt for her to live with an ignorant husband and how she lost herself to such an intoxicating drink. Then her mind wondered to her father with his career in politics. All her life, he had been busy with his job and had no time to spend with his daughter.

She did not know whether it was the alcohol she was consuming or the misery of her situation was making her think about things she would not usually think about. She just felt like crying all of a sudden, to let out all she was feeling inside until she heard a deep voice addressing to her.

"Would you mind if I sit here?"

She did not look up, but just merely nodded her head. Every barstool at the counter was empty except hers and the stranger had just decided to sit next to her. She gulped down the remaining of her drink and asked the bartender for another one.

"Tough night, huh?" she heard the stranger's voice again. She lifted her head up to see who was talking to her. She was immediately met by a pair of mesmerizing deep blue eyes that struck out even in the darkness of the bar. She looked closely at him through a blurry vision that was coming to her as a consequence of her second glass of vodka. He seemed tall and young, only a few years older than her. She attempted a smile, trying to cheer herself up and let the sorrow be away even for a while. She was going to leave in a few minutes and why would she bother to waste the remaining time by being miserable. "Sorry, I did not mean to disturb you" she heard the deep voice again.

"It is okay" she said, looking over at him. He had a bottle of beer before him and he seemed alone just like her. "Yeah, I am having a tough night" she said, lifting her glass to her mouth once more.

"Would you mind if I join you for a while?" he said, his deep voice soft and gentle. She nodded a yes and saw him drawing his barstool closer to her. In another occasion, or at least another time, she would want to be left alone, but there was something about the young man with blue eyes that wanted him to join her. Besides, misery needed company and she was in no situation to say no to such company.

"Are you having one of those nights too?" she asked him to start up a conversation, hoping that talking would take away the setting effects of alcohol.

"I'd better say yes to that, seeing how my friends ditched me for some girls." he said, pointing to the table where her friends were sitting at.

"I have to say the same thing. Those are my friends who are sitting with your friends." she smiled for the first time the whole night.

He took a sip from his drink. "Oh, I did not know. I am sorry if I offended you or your friends."

"It is okay." she said, raising her glass towards him. "I knew this would happen to me, you know, being ditched on a Saturday night, but I decided to take my shot." she paused "and I mean it in both ways" she gulped the drink down once again.

"You may want to slow down. You would not like to get drunk like me" he laughed. Up until now, she had not notice he was indeed drunk as well. He seemed like he was in control of his drunkenness somehow.

"Nah, I have a high tolerance for alcohol" she lied. The room was spinning now. "I have my finals coming up and here I am drinking."

"So you have the same problem as me. I am graduating this year and have to study hard, but I guess I spend a lot of time with being ditched."

"That makes the two of us, though I have a few years more before I graduate." she was smiling once more. Usually, she would not be talking to strange man she just met but there was something about the guy with deep blue eyes next to her that made it different. Or it was just the alcohol that was making her this way.

"Do you go out a lot?" he asked with his bottle of beer raised to his chin.

"No, you?" she asked immediately. She was usually like a closed book, not talking much, living in her own world. The alcohol was bringing the best in her and she kind of liked it.

"Rarely. I used to go out a lot with my brother, but I am busy with college work and he does not want anything to do with me, so, I go out with these losers instead when they want to chase women."

"I understand." she replied and finished the rest of her glass. She was feeling hot all of a sudden because of the alcohol running through her veins right now. What she studied at college would not approve of what she was doing right now. Getting drunk was the last thing a student of medicine should do, but she did not care. There was nothing in medicine that could make her feel like the way she was right now.

The two sat down in silence for a while, finishing their drinks. "It was really nice talking to you." he said, getting to his feet. He did not know anything about the woman next to him except from the fact that her hair color was the best thing he had ever seen and her crooked nose made her really look beautiful and the fact that she would drink cranberry vodka when feeling ditched. He stared long into her brown eyes, though his vision was rather blurred. He made a mental note about not drinking six bottles of beer in a row with lime the next time he met a beautiful woman.

"Yeah, you too." she replied, giving away a smile. She did not know his name, she did not know what college he went to, but she really liked spending time with him, even though it was merely a few minutes in total. "Maybe we will meet again one day." she said as she watched him walk away stumbling.

He looked back at her, using the edge of the counter to stand still. "You would not remember me" he said, looking into her chocolate brown eyes. The alcohol in his veins was blurring his mind but he knew deep down that he would remember the beautiful girl that sat next to her. Or maybe not.

"I would" she said, looking down in order not to meet his deep blue eyes. She knew that she was almost drunk, that the three empty glasses of vodka were the proof to her drunkenness. Everything was telling her the opposite, that there was no way she would remember him. "Or maybe not" she said to herself. She watched him get out of the bar and hail a cab. Then she paid for her drinks and did the same, not caring what her friends were doing. She had to sober up and then study for her finals in the morning with a healthy stomach.

"Maybe we met before." he said sitting on the examination table, trying to flirt with the doctor. "You know, drunk, out at a bar somewhere." he watched the strict look on her face.

"I would have remembered."


End file.
